I have words and phrases stuck inside my head that will never leave me, no matter how many times I take them out and share them.

It’s not a bad thing for some of them.  They deserve another opportunity to be aired—to influence listeners.  Those—the profitable ones—I think I’ll hang onto and give them their freedom once in a while.

But, some words need to be kept under wraps, in chains, and in the dark where they can do no further harm.  They hurt going in, but I’ll not set them free to hunt any more prey.  At least, that’s my intent.  I forget sometimes and leave the door open for them.  I wish I weren’t so forgetful.

I do love the good words that remind me of people in my life.  Many of them remind me of folks who have dropped out of the story temporarily, so there’s a sadness mixed with joy when I pass them out again.

It happened again yesterday.

I was talking with a friend who isn’t doing so well right now.  His is a temporary setback and he knows it. Hoping to encourage him, I laughed as I shared a favorite phrase of my father-in-law’s, one I heard often over the nearly thirty years I was privileged to know him.

They were the words he uttered often when asked how he was doing.

“I’m able to be up and around and take nourishment.”

Did I say I laughed as I said them?  As I remember, I always did back when he spoke them to me or whoever had posed the question to him, too.  It just seemed such a strange way to make small talk.

The old man has been gone for most of seventeen years now.  Seventeen years of silence from him, and I’m just realizing the deeper meaning of the words.  Words I’ve saved up for times when humor was needed.

But, that’s not what they are, is it?

I’ve come to realize the deep gratitude, the thankfulness, this curious phrase expresses.  To anyone who is really listening.

“How are you?”

It’s a question inviting a litany of complaints—a laundry list of aches, pains, and privations.  Frequently, those are exactly what we get (or give).

That, or we tell the standard lie and simply reply, “Fine.”

My father-in-law headed them both off and offered his perspective of gratitude for the small things.

“I have what I need.  I’m able to get out of my bed in the morning and I can eat the food on my plate.”

What a great attitude!  It didn’t mean there weren’t difficulties.  It didn’t even mean he was necessarily happy with his life.  But, he was grateful for what he did have.

Did I say it was gratitude for the small things?

I should have said they were the essentials.

Just recently, I saw a video in which an oncologist revealed what he believed were the two most important things for his cancer patients to do.  It shouldn’t have come as a surprise.

The two things were to keep moving and to keep eating.

Easy peasy, you say?

Not so much when your body is wracked with nausea and pain from both the disease and the treatment for it.  It’s not all that easy for the elderly to do those two things consistently.  Or even for folks with auto-immune disease.  Or, for those who suffer from depression.

Essentials for life.

Exactly what he said (the Lovely Lady’s father).

“I’m able to be up and around and take nourishment.”

Basics.

Move. Eat.

And, be grateful we can do them.

I think I’ll do all three today.

I hope you do, too.

Good words.

 

For in Him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, “We are his offspring.”
(Acts 17:28, NIV)

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold
In settings of silver.
(Proverbs 25:11, NKJV)

© Paul Phillips. He’s Taken Leave. 2022. All Rights Reserved.